Call of Cthulhu: Red, White and Blacker than Black

By Ari Golden, The Globe

Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Liev Sokolov stood before a judge in Lowell Wednesday.

Five days after the death of Dick Graves in Lowell, Sokolov has been charged with first degree murder and Essex County District Attorney Alvin Drake says the defamed lawyer could face more.

“Without a body, much of Mr. Sokolov’s story is still suspect,” Drake said, “He could still face charges of obstruction of justice or more. At the minimum, he’s the last person we’re aware of to see the victim alive.”

According to an interview with Sokolov conducted by Lowell Police, Sokolov claimed his vehicle had been attacked by a gangster he identified only as “The Dog.” He stated he fired two shots at the men who attacked his vehicle but was unable to stop them before he Graves was taken.

Drake said forensics only support parts or Sokolov’s story.

“One round matching Mr. Sokolov’s firearm was found in the accused’s vehicle,” he said. “Mr. Sokolov’s story does not support the locating of this blood covered bullet.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Townshend declined to comment for the story and only stated that Sokolov has been removed from his position as Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County.

Investigations into Sokolov’s recent activities point to uncharacteristic impulsiveness. In a police report filed by Boston Police Department Detective Allen Legrasse, Sokolov reportedly attempted to break into a suspect’s apartment in late November. A separate report filed by Boston Police Department Chief Charlie McCreery stated Sokolov shot a suspect fleeing his home during a police search the ADA was called into. The suspect survived the shooting and died in jail five days later.

Sokolov declined to comment for the story but plead not guilty at a pretrial Wednesday. He’s been given a public defender in the impending case. Drake said it was likely the case would go to a jury trial.

The Beast arrives and Graves' life stands in the balance

The next morning, Liev Sokolov and Frank Harris continue the search for Dick Graves continues in Dunwich. The pair head separately into town and discover that the locals aren’t particularly willing to help. Out of options, the investigators head up to the old Whately place, looking for a clue to where Graves may have fled to. At the peak they find The Man examining the standing stones. Graves and Sokolov attempt to question him but he verbally sidesteps them at every turn and offers instead only a deal, a dangerous sounding sit down with FBI Special Agent Kristina Maximoff for a tool which could stop the beast that’s pursuing Graves. Expressing confusion and discomfort, the Investigators refuse and the stranger drives off but not before Sokolov records his license plate and informs Maximoff about the man’s intentions. She demands that the investigators keep their eyes open for further encounters with the mysterious stranger and keep Delta Green abreast on any developments.

Defeated with their lack of findings, Sokolov and Harris prepare to go to Innsumouth before Harris remembers that Graves has family in Lowell. The pair travel to town, looking for leads. While Sokolov interviews Alex Graves, Harris drives to a hotel on the edge of town. After coming up with little, he sees a young man and chases him, before stopping him with a well thrown cane.

Sokolov and Harris interview Graves in his hotel room where he explains how he’s been on the run from the hound and has enchanted a knife, using a ritual explained in Applying Crowley. Harris goes out for food and as he leaves, the monster arrives. Graves and Sokolov flee the hotel room and enter a car only to be attacked by the amorphous, howling monstrosity. Sokolov fends it off with an enchanted knife before the unknowable horror shoves it’s spined tongue into Graves’ body. Harris joins the fray and fires rounds at the creature which go straight through its otherworldly geometry.

Fearing that the beast is unstoppable, Sokolov fires a pair of rounds into Graves’ chest and neck and leaving him for dead. The beast disappears as Graves dies and the pair plan an escape. With police closing in, Sokolov orders Harris to drive Graves’ corpse to Washington to be disposed of by Delta Green. Sokolov takes the rap for the murder and spins an alibi involving rival gangsters.

Arriving in DC, Maximoff promises Harris that she’ll dispose of the body but can’t promise that Delta Green will be able to get Sokolov out of trouble. She hints that Harris may have earned himself a place as an Agent in Delta Green after his actions in Lowell and Dunwich.

Weatherman was a friend of Graves and gave Harris a transcript of the final interview with Graves before his disappearance, taken shortly before his disappearance. Graves was terrified by what he believed to be a sort of green, spectral being, which he described as a dog.

Meanwhile, Liev Sokolov bought the newly wounded Harris a cane from a local store and left it in his friend’s apartment before talking to FBI Special Agent Kristina Maximoff, who told him about Harris’ investigation in Arkham. Sokolov blew off Maximoff’s warning about the investigation and the potential for Delta Green’s involvement in Graves’ disappearance. Curious, Sokolov headed to Arkham to join the investigation into Graves’ disappearance.

Teaming up with Harris again, the two talked to Weatherman a second time to find more information about Graves before investigating his dorm room. There, they found a series of items, a variety of pop culture artifacts and a book about deciphering the teachings of Alister Crowley, engraved with a pentagram.

The pair also went on to meet Dot Hanson, Graves girlfriend who had spoken with the young man shortly before his disappearance. She believed her boyfriend was worried about being pursued by something he’d seen during the test. She didn’t know where he’d gone but knew he had family in Lowell and had been interested in the deaths which had occurred years earlier in Dunwich.

After considering making the drive out to Dunwich to look for Graves, Sokolov and Harris returned to Boston, planning to take back up the search the next morning. After going through his notes, Harris fell asleep. Sokolov, studying the book found in Graves’ apartment, fell asleep in his chair only to be awoken in the middle of the night by a pair of hot canine breaths on his back. Spinning to look for the hunter, Sokolov found himself alone in his home and terrified of what was coming.

A killer is in custody but one man is still a target

Miguel Coranandes is in an interrogation cell under the watch of Kristina Maximoff but Liev Sokolov is off to try to find anything which could continue to link the German to the crime. When attempts to find a translator fall flat, he visits the docks to find a .38 special in Coranandes’ locker.

Meanwhile, Frank Harris has headed to Arkham looking for Tommy Johnston. What he finds is beyond words. A somehow still walking corpse, similar to the one found in Coranandes’ apartment attacks the veteran in his bedroom. As Harris tries to intervene, he passes out in horror, waking up in time to take a shot at the aberration before it breaks his leg wide open with a wood-cutting axe. With the help of Johnston, a tire iron and a baseball bat, Harris is able to survive and Maximoff and Sokolov arrive to see the journalist in the hospital.

Maximoff reveals that she isn’t just an FBI Agent, but an agent of Delta Green, a secret government funded group dedicated to investigating the paranormal. Maximoff has reason to believe that Coranandes was involved with an occult Nazi group known as The Karotechia. She reveals that Johnston and his company’s last fights in Berlin were against the remains of The Karotechia, Hitler’s final defense and agents of a still mysterious “Final Solution.” Maximoff believed the Karotechia to be vastly wiped out during Project Lunacy but it appears someone is still pulling the strings and has power over some Nazi sympathizers. Maximoff offers Sokolov and Harris DG Friendly status, giving them some support from Delta Green while asking for some assistance when necessary, and the Investigators accept.

While Harris remains in the hospital, Sokolov finds in an autopsy that the aberration in Johnston’s home had been dead for weeks, maybe months. He also receives word that the .38 Special found in Coranandes’ dock locker is registered to a man named Hans Cassel. A few days after hearing the update, the Boston Globe runs an obituary, revealing Miguel Coranandes (or is it Hans Cassel?) was found dead in a holding cell with a likely cause of death being a massive brain hemorrhage.

A killer stalks Boston for an object from the last war

Boston Police reported to the Buckminster Hotel Bar when a body, identified as Bobby Roberts was discovered in the restroom, two bullets putting him down and slumped on a toilet seat. Investigations by police as well as defrocked journalist Frank Harris and Suffolk County ADA Liev Sokolov found a ransacked apartment with a few objects indicating a history in the last days of WWII.

As Harris investigated connections to the Roberts’ murder, Sokolov looked into connections with Roberts, namely his fellow veteran Vinnie Nacenti and ended up drawing the attention of Detective Legrasse.

Also investigating leads is the mysterious Kristina Maximoff an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Dissatisfied with the federal involvement in the case and with a hot tip about the identity of the Roberts’ suspect, the investigators went with Legrasse to track the suspect.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.